Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Fortune magazine, which last year reduced its frequency from 25 issues to 18 (while beefing the issues up), is going to have themed features in every one of those issues next year, according to a story in Adweek. Fortune is best known for things like its Fortune 500 and is looking to grow outside of its traditional print business.

“The big franchise issues score the highest when it comes to reader opinion,” said Jed Hartman, publisher of Fortune. “They also perform great for advertisers, and they also have that third ingredient: They’re picked up by the press or they’re influential in the community.”

Among the new special features (which fortune calls "franchises") will be“TheShapeoftheFuture”thatwillnamethepeople,companies,andideasthatwillmostinfluencetheworldintheyearsahead.“HowItWorks”willexplorethesecretsauceofproductsandconcepts.Therealsowillbe“BestAdviceIEverGot”and“VentureSpecial,”alookatsmallbusinesses.

In addition to being adaptable to other platforms and providing a focus for advertisers, such special sections finance more space for long-form journalism, according to Andy Serwer, the managing editor of Fortune “That means they’re fat issues, and then we can do all this other stuff,” he said.